Geni

by Geni, Inc. (David Sacks, Alan Braverman)
Allows families to collaboratively build their family tree. When the user adds a relative’s email address, that relative is invited to join the tree. Your family’s information is kept private as you can only search for people who are in your family. When separate trees begin to overlap, they can be merged, with the potential of producing a world family tree.

Free • Subscription • Online • Full Featured
http://www.geni.com/
29 Reviews, latest Aug 12, 2010
Enjoy Using It3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 3.00
Use It Often2.96 out of 52.96 out of 52.96 out of 52.96 out of 52.96 out of 5 2.96
Easy Input3.42 out of 53.42 out of 53.42 out of 53.42 out of 53.42 out of 5 3.42
Useful Output2.39 out of 52.39 out of 52.39 out of 52.39 out of 52.39 out of 5 2.39
Overall Rating2.83 out of 52.83 out of 52.83 out of 52.83 out of 52.83 out of 5 2.83
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29 Reviews of Geni     RSS 2.0 RSS     Showing 1 - 20

Geni Review by Lisa,  Aug 12, 2010

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

Avoid this site. They have no respect for your privacy. Anyone can add information about living individuals and it is available for any member of the site to see. If you ask for it to be removed, they will not help you. Worse, anyone can information about your minor children (over 13, under 18) and it is also viewable. And they will not remove it. This would be a fantastic site, if they would respect the privacy of living individuals.

Biggest Pro: Great idea to link family members
Biggest Con: no privacy and no way to remedy it.

Geni Review by Mike,  Jun 3, 2010

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
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I started using GEni while it was in hard beta, several years ago. At first I was active in helping them build the service bes as I could but I realized that they are not actually interested to provide good geneaology service.

Stil, I used them, because I could not find better.

Now, I decided to get all of data I entered to geni and start using desktop application to maintain my family tree. I found out that I cannot. Geni des not allow me to get my data until I pay for it. Then I got interested and found out that Geni turned out to “You are all going to pay” insted of “We are all connected”.

I am pretty sure this is illegal to sieze someones data and blackmail to release them.

I guess I would pay, get my data, and from now on I would do lot of efforts to let people know who Geni.com is.

Biggest Pro: nice interface even if it is quite limited
Biggest Con: sizing my data and blackmailing me to pay to get it

Geni Review by james gross,  Apr 28, 2010

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

I will be frank and state right up front that I am a genealogy junkie. Everyone has their own defined needs in life, and some of them include working on expanding their family trees. Some people are hooked on food, some on sex, some on vacations, and some on TV. I have to have my genealogy NOW!

For genealogy junkie’s, it can be a very useful website. I would advise users to use it as a coal mining expedition. Seek out and locate your relatives. Another reader recently wrote,” While Geni is a very nice site and very easy to update it has one MAJOR FLAW, which is that once you link to another tree you no longer own your data and cannot delete your own tree. Furthermore anyone in the linked in tree has full editorial access to your data and can amend your tree without your say so.”

Yes. I agree with the post. I hope some of you took a few minutes to read the problems regarding linking trees in the Geni forum. It says the exact same thing as this poster said. My peronal advice is to not link your family to anyone unless you know them very well. In fact, even then I suggest you maintain a policy of your “immediate tree” or family as being your personal property. So when I received a request to link one of my grandfathers, I ignored it. Why? My “immediate tree” rule.

You can still be a nice cousin and say hello to them. Just tell them to bookmark your tree and that you would be happy to share info. You don’t need a linked tree to become a friend on geni. I think you can also add someone to your group. Its in the privacy settings. Breing a sandwhich when you get to that section as it takes a few minutes to set everything correctly.

Anyway, you should really be a bit sociable and email your relatives anyway. The whole point is to swap info. So, issues aside, I can be found on geni.

Biggest Pro: locating new relatives
Biggest Con: lack of control on tree once linked

Geni Review by Dawn LeForce,  Apr 14, 2010

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

These people are misleading & lying to people to get them to add their personal info. Once added they insist you merge duplicates with total strangers who may or may not be family. Since duplicates are so easy to create this is a never ending unpaid job.

If you decide you no longer care to have your family tree up at their site you can’t simply delete it. Even if you didn’t merge with anybody or invite anybody to it you can’t simply delete it. This is because they do their very best to steal your work & your family’s private & personal info for their one world tree so they can prove everybody’s related. Attempting to delete my family’s personal & private info from their site got me banned from my own tree, my account deleted & the profiles & memorials I managed were transferred to a woman from another country nobody in my family knows.

Biggest Pro: None
Biggest Con: They’re thieves

Geni Review by JJ,  Mar 29, 2010

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5

Love this website. It allows me to store my family histories in a easily accessible format that provides clear and informational trees that can go back dozens of generations, and its free. I myself eventually subscribed but its not necessary and inexpensive in any case. I have linked up with several persons with shared tree elements learning about more cousins than I could shake a stick at. All of the plusses of ancestry’s tree program with a better graphical depiction of the tree including photos in the tree and of course the fact that its free rather than 14 bucks a month is a big plus. Not that you can research documents here, this is not for that. But this is a great place to put the information you get on ancestry in a way thats easily accessible by your whole family if you like, or just for yourself. Can not recommend it more highly.

Biggest Pro: Great Graphical Depiction of Dozens of generations family trees, with the ability to store information in each node about that person including photos and documents.
Biggest Con: Can be alot of clicking to get to a particular data type to edit it (ie if you want to add an eye color of a person etc) but thats trivial stuff.

Geni Review by John,  Feb 3, 2010

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • Not Rated
  • Not Rated

While Geni is a very nice site and very easy to update it has one MAJOR FLAW, which is that once you link to another tree you no longer own your data and cannot delete your own tree. Furthermore anyone in the linked in tree has full editorial access to your data and can amend your tree without your say so.

I only had one profile linked to mine so I discovered I could delete every individual not part of the other persons tree. Basically I had to vadladise my own tree to protect my data.

The attitude of other users on the Geni forum was downright hostile when I enquired about deleting my tree. On MyHeritage.com and WeRelate you are able to merge trees yet they let you delete your tree.

You are able to close your account but this leaves your tree intact and open to even more abouse as you no longer have any input.

Biggest Pro: easy to use
Biggest Con: YOU NO LONGER OWN YOUR DATA (outweighs any Pros)

Geni Review by jane tracy,  Jan 5, 2010

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

I never subscribed to Geni–I don’t know who in our family did–but I DO NOT LIKE getting emails from Geni saying, ‘This is ______ (your cousin’s/brother’s/daughter’s father-in-law’s) SIXTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY OR 25TH ANNIVERSARY! And I just PRAY that Geni isn’t posting MY age and marriage information!

It’s NOBODY’S BUSINESS what my birth date or year of marriage is. It certainly is not Geni’s. If Geni is posting personal information about me without my permission, THEY HAD BETTER STOP DOING IT NOW.

Biggest Pro: none
Biggest Con: invasion of privacy.

Geni Review by Richard72,  Dec 19, 2009

  • Not Rated
  • Not Rated
  • Not Rated
  • Not Rated
  • Not Rated

A distant relative (actually anyone) can list you and your extended family without ever asking permission to publish this data. Due to lack of safeguards, this data is globally available. At best, this violates basic expectation of privacy. At worst, false and derogatory information can place the individual and family at risk. Removal of data requires litigation.

Biggest Con: Unverified data. Unauthorized use of personal data. Requires litigation to remove data.

Geni Review by DKA,  Dec 2, 2009

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5

Geni has a LOT going for it, but has some serious deficiencies. I’ve been on for over a year now, and I’ve seen more features go away (to the land of the paid user) than new features implemented. In fact, I can’t think of one new feature of any major importance introduced in the last year. And there are many that should be implemented to make this a worthwhile site.

In the meantime, it is extremely good at letting family collaborate. It’s just limited in what you can do with the information, and I find many of the new branches on the automatically growing tree somewhat suspect. There isn’t a very high standard for authenticity or verification.

I will continue to use Geni, but keep downloading the GEDCOM as a backup. I might even go “pro” if they ever implement any really useful pro features.

Biggest Pro: Fairly easy family collaboration
Biggest Con: Very little control over parts of the tree that may not be accurate and have been added by others.

Geni Review by James,  Feb 23, 2009

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

I tried Geni for a couple of months and while it looks pretty by first impression, the features offered and the direction of the company is less attractive. It seems it’s more about collecting profile numbers rather than creating a useful website. The much discussed changes lately shows that while Geni would like you to add content, they don’t like you to actually be able to see the content in the most useful ways. Many unnecessary limits is being implemented that seems to be more about enabling Geni to control and sell your content later than it’s about giving users improved privacy.

Be warned about adding email addresses to profiles, Geni does send exaggerated amount of notifications that is considered a nuisance by the majority of users.

Biggest Pro: pretty
Biggest Con: They spam

Geni Review by Judy,  Feb 20, 2009

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5

I wanted to repost as Geni (after about 10 days of a very vocal and active group of users kept of a written protest) has given back some of the functionality taken away in Oct. and 11 days agor. They gave back a default of out to 4th cousins, better than 3 rd cousin certainly and a couple of free gifts while adding a facebook interface. But that is not enough. However GENI has promised to do a series of tweaking and rollouts to restore lost relationship calculations and widen out the family circle. If that promise is kept, Geni users will again become Geni fanactics and evangelists. More importantly if they deliver on these promises, users trust will be restored. In addition Geni rolled out a few small new features and hinted at some more exciting ones to come.

While I wish the response had been sooner and there had not been the consternation and unhappiness of loyal users, I am glad to get positive response from Geni and want to re-evaluate my rating….when all the lost functionality is back I will come back and rate the overall as a 5……for now I am holding back until the promises are met with a 3.

Biggest Pro: The promise and concept of Geni
Biggest Con: The recent trust issue between rabid users and Geni management

Geni Review by Rebecca,  Feb 18, 2009

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5

Wow, have my thoughts changed about geni.com since their latest downgrade. Geni’s slogan “Everyone’s Related” really needs to be changed because there is no way for people to find out how they are related. Cousins that I have added/invited to the tree are no longer visible - you have to pay to see how you are related for anyone looking further out than 3rd cousins.

If things would go back to the way they were, I would definitely give geni.com a higher rating again. There are so many great features, and it was so much fun to learn about distant relatives and how you were related to them.

Biggest Pro: Ease of adding new relatives
Biggest Con: Not knowing how you are related to these relatives

Geni Review by David,  Feb 18, 2009

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

Geni has changed from a site of great potential to a shell of that. Geni promised “everyone’s related” and had a beta site that provided that ability. Since Oct. of 2008 Geni has begun restricitng its basic users from seeing their families and the work they have put into Geni. The once lively and engaged user community that worked so well with Geni is now up in arms and at odds with Geni and its management over the latest changes. Geni has refused to really engage with its users in this uproar. A big change from the past. Before Geni offered its Pro service in Oct, Geni promised the core services would always be free. Then with the announcement in October started taking away major parts of functionality with the latest downgrade setting a 3rd cousin limit of who can be seen by basic users………..they had previously in Oct taken away the ability to see the relationships to your ancestors beyond fifith cousins. While in beta users could see all their ancestors as far back as they could find……. sad that such a great site with such unlimited future has taken such a drastic step back with their product and their user communities. It appears that Geni does not understand the Web 2.0 world and the need for good customer relations. it is a shame for such a great site to shoot itself in the foot.

Biggest Pro: The original promise and concept of Geni
Biggest Con: Lack of focus and constant downgrading of system

Geni Review by James Griffin,  Feb 18, 2009

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

I like Geni.
I have found it useful.

I am saddened to read the disquiet expressed in many of the recent reviews on this page.

Besides Geni, I also like Ancestry.Com and other genealogical sites.
I have used Ancestry, for example, now Ancestry.Com, for more than 35 years.
Ancestry is very useful in researching such things as census reports and Civil War military data.

I have used Geni for over two years.
Geni is very useful in getting information, and even old-time home movies, from relatives.

Geni is lively.
It is true Geni is evolving.
It is true Geni’s evolution has pluses and minuses.

Gemi is a commercial site and as such needs to find a viable commercial model.
As users our hope is that Geni’s eventual commercial model is one we find user-friendly.

Biggest Pro: The information posted by relatives
Biggest Con: The disquiet expressed by Forum Members and here in GenSoftReviews

Geni Review by Mary,  Feb 17, 2009

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

Geni was a great place to be until recently when Geni started taking away the ability to see who you are connected to….now it is not interesting and I do not plan to be very active anymore. I am very disappointed in the way that Geni has changed. They promised everything we had when I joined would always be free but they changed and now even if you pay you can’t see everything nor can your family. What kind of family tree idea is that? Not a good one!

Biggest Pro: The original Geni—When it was free and had lots of ability
Biggest Con: Downgraded system so you can only see out to 3rd cousin

Geni Review by bmerr1971,  Feb 13, 2009

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

I’m still waiting to see what happens with Geni. It started out very promising, as Geni offers a collaborative tree building environment that other sites do not offer. But Geni has, over time, reduced, reduced, reduced its features under the guise of “enhanced privacy”. They advertise that you can connect and collaborate with your family, but this is not really accurate. The truth is, you can only connect and collaborate with what Geni defines as your “family group”, which is very limited and who are the people in the family that you probably already know. You do not have the ability to connect and collaborate with distant and unknown relatives, which is really what the point of Geni should be. And for some reason, Geni has decided, across the board, that deceased people need the same level of privacy that minors do(?). Absurd. I’m hoping they decide to listen to their users and change their direction. See http://forum.geni.com for more.

Biggest Pro: Collaborative tree-building environment .
Biggest Con: Limited viewing of family records. What’s the point of having you and your family build a large tree if you can’t view any of it?

Geni Review by Od,  Feb 12, 2009

  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5

What is the point with using a genealogy site that only let you see up to your third cousins? Geni uses “everyone’s related” in their logo, however they will not let you know how, so it’s pretty misleading. .

Geni is the worst offender of all the Genealogy sites when it comes to security, they have so many security bugs that easily allows unauthorized access to private data.

If you register your relatives email, you can expect Geni to target these registered emails with excessive spam. Your relatives will not thank you for adding them to Geni, but curse you for the 3 mails-a-day from Geni.

Geni has aggressively pushed features such as some extremely tacky “virtual gifts” in order to cash in on users. You can expect them to exploit any opportunity to cash in on any of your relatives no matter age in the near future.

Geni is a hungry moneytrap for your family and I would definitely not recommend anyone using it. Just read their user forum and see how much criticism they get.

They should change their logo to “Geni - everyone’s retarded” since that is how they treat their userbase

Biggest Pro: ScotHibb
Biggest Con: David Sacks

Geni Review by Judy,  Feb 11, 2009

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5
  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 1 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 51 out of 5
  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5

I joined Geni a year and a half ago and was so excited to have found the site that seemed to be exactly what I had searched for….a free, flexible well designed genealogy site twith lots of potential. Geni allowed for a lot of personalization and you could add photos and later the ability to add viseo and audio was added. Plus Geni fostered family collaboration. Kind of a mini facebook dedicated to keeping family in contact and working on their family tree together…How cool was that! In the last year Geni has been changing direction and severely hampering functionality. Geni needed to make money, we all understood that wanted to insure that they did so we would be assured of the Geni site for the future. However even though they told their users just before they announced their Pro, pay service that all “basic” functions and features (those developed and being used to that time) would always remain free……they begin downgrading and reducting of features and core services almost immediatel upon rolling out the Pro service, When I joined I could see my relationship calculated to anyone no matter how far removed, when Pro was announced that was changed and seriously downgraded, relationships would no longer be calculated beyond a very reduced point which I believe was 5th cousin for “free” users…Pro users could see more, now no one can see more than his 3rd cousins. So although this is supposedly a genealogy site, if you expand your tree beyond 3rd cousin you are seriouly impacted. You can’t see each other or know who those 3rd cousins may have invited from your extended family and added to the tree because you aren’t notified and probably won’t be able to see much of the info now without a lot of difficult micky mousing and sometimes not even then. This is really ridiculous when Geni is pushing it’s merging ability between trees and there is now one mega tree with over 8 million connected. But yahoo, you can’t see how you are related or where your tree is merged to another nor how it is related in the big tree. So why bother. I do not understand why Geni has deviated from their mission which was excellent. But the product is rapidly losing relevence for genealogists. Fleming above was correct when he said that many power and old time users of Geni are now up in arms and at odds with Geni due to the downgrading and dumbing down of the service. these users have spent hundreds and thousands of hours inputting data which is pretty much being held hostage as their is no way to get all your data off Geni at this time. Nor is there a way to print all your data off Geni….something one would have expected after the company had been out there for two years. Six months ago I would have given Geni 5 stars across the board, sadly I can not do that now. My hope is that Geni corrects itself and I can come back and write a better review and praise them for seeing the light…….one can always hope

Biggest Pro: It’s initial concept
Biggest Con: Change of product direction

Geni Review by dragonasbreath,  Feb 11, 2009

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5
  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5
  • Not Rated
  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5

While it has it’s problems, and we DO have a usage arguement going in the forums at the moment, this is STILl the best free site I’ve run into (and better than some of the paid ones I’ve tried).
It has a decent profile building that allows you to include such things as schooling and jobs (but not your military service yet - this is one of the discussions).
It has room for personal notes such as eye color, hair color, religion and poliitics.
It has become more userfriendly than when I first found it 1½ years ago - and no, you don’t need Scott’s permission to join!

come start a basic tree adn see what you think of it - and remember to sign up to the forums as well so you can join in the free-for-all.

Biggest Pro: biographical sections
Biggest Con: you never know what they are going to downsize next - although they always promise that it will lead to greater things.

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